Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Here's your goodness for the week! I gotta hit the road, gig in Philly this weekend.

8in8 - One Tiny Thing: The organ gives this indiepop a tiny baroque brazing, but the underpinnings is the soul-fed vocals and really it's fabulous all the way through. From the new album Nighty Night.

Alela Diane & Wild Devine - Of Many Colors: Tragedy! I had such high hopes for this album, but alas... This song is fabulous though. And if you haven't yet, be sure to check out the masterful LP To Be Still from 2009.

Bohren & der Club of Gore - Zombies Never Die (Blues): Oh I love me some Bohren gore! The new (album? EP? It's 35 minutes long but only 3 tracks...) is Beileid and it even features horror-vocal-maestro Mike Patton. You got your doom in my jazz! You got your jazz in my sludge! You got your sludge all over the rug!

Donnis - Eyes Low ft Gorilla Zoe & Young Dro: I am extremely critical of clubby hiphop, but dayyam even I find faults with this perfect little banger... I even like the chorus. wtf.

Fourcolor - Frosted MintFourcolor - Iris (Familiar): I flip through some many experimental electronic laptoppy albums that I am constant ready to hit fastforward and skip to the next disc, but this one beat the odds and sucked me in and offered me some fabulous works. The textures avoid the dubby and instead tinkle in that well-worn realm of ambient/idm DSP, but incorporate some fantastic layers of composition amongst it all. Very much recommended if you love beautiful ehtereal electronic soundscapes.

Fucked Up - Queen Of HeartsFucked Up - Ship Of Fools: New album is David Comes To Life. So yeah, Canada pretty muchs run rock n roll these days.

Lykke Li - I Know Places (DJSB Remix): Not that we are at all surprised, this number was just calling out for a mellowed-out dubstep rework. Expect and ye shall receive, quoth the inernet.

Okkervil River - Wake and Be Fine: Another fabulous single from the new album I Am Very Far! Okkervil are back in tiptop form.

The Airplane Boys - Born To BeThe Airplane Boys - Ice AgeThe Airplane Boys - La Rude, Lord Of The Flies: Hipster rap doubled down. Like, seriously. Arcade Fire? Radiohead? beats circa Kanye's 808s & Heartbreak? And holy that Lord Of The Flies track is dope, Project Blowed references and all. All from the hot new album Where've You Been. I wasn't in to the whole thing, but the high-points are staggeringly good. Go buy it now.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Big thanks to one Matthew S. who sent me a lovely book from my Wish List!
I got the amazing "Conceptual Art" book from the "Themes & Movements" series, which if you enjoy art is like getting a big bag of your favourite candy.

Alva Noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto - Pioneer IOO: I have been drooling all over this duo since I got their first LP on transparent vinyl way back wehn. The new Summvs does not quite live up to my high expectations though, which much of the lingering melodic interplay of past records lost. Ah well. I still love this gorgeous track as a return to form.

Amon Tobin - Goto 10Amon Tobin - Journeyman: The new album Isam is chock full of meaty textures and soundscapes and mutant downtempo trickery that will warp your mind just a little bit. Amon Tobin seems gunning for more videogame soundtrack work as this album alone could easily have a game universe built around it. It isn't all my cup of tea though, and I'm not just saying that in a crotchety "OMG NINJA TUNE CHANGED FROM 16 YEARS AGO" kind of way.

BOA - Push: Total straight-up pop giddiness!

Cults - You Know What I Mean: Cults tone down the macabre and get a touch more Camera Obscura on this one.

EMA - Milkman: From "Past Life Martyred Saints", this one owes a heavy thankyou to both Fever Ray and 90s alt-rock.

Hazeem - Devil's Pie (Remix)Hazeem - Light My FireHazeem - Synthopia: These just stumbled in my inbox from out of nowhere, and holy shit what a delight! Modest grooving soul? Mutant downtempo bass? Modern breakbeat? All of the above! From the album Planetary Hours.

Johan Agebjörn - Watch The World Go By (Young Galaxy Remix): OK, does the intro melody remind anyone else of the Teddy Ruxpin themesong? ??? ANYONE? Young Galaxy take a stab at this gorgeous song to lovely-yet-woozy results.

Scientist vs Guido - Korg Back Dub: The massively awesome Scientist Launches Dubstep Into Outer Space has to be one of my favourite cohesive albums to ever come out of the dubstep realm. The aesthetic has a cohesive rein on all of the sounds and it makes for such a smooth ride. Highly recommended for beatheads.

Apparat - Ash; Black Veil: The albums drops in the fall this year, but in the meantime here is the new leaked single from Apparat! Gorgeous.

Battles - Ice Cream ft Matias AguayoBattles - InchwormBattles - Sweetie & Shag (Featuring Kazu Makino): The jury is still out on the new Battles LP Gloss Drop. It is just not as complex and hard as Mirrored, but the slightly relaxed tensions will probably make it even more enjoyable for a huge swathe of the population. Their lead vocalist is gone, but a wonderful array of guests fill in on vocal duties, including Gary Numan and our lord and saviour Eye Yamataka. You know what? Fuck it: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Bill Callahan - One Fine Morning: New Bill Callahan! I have only been through Apocalypse once and it didn't quite grab me, but let me say this: It took me a YEAR to really "get" Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle. I am willing to be patient with this one. We owe it so much chaotic end-of-the-world devotion. If not only for this epic final track.

Des A Boda & Mr. Miyagi's Ghost - Neon Retainer: *phew* after all that, time for a break with glowstick pop electro!

Emalkay - CrusaderEmalkay - Fabrication: The latest LP Eclipse brings some of the hottest bass sounds forward since Eraldo Bernocchi & Blackfilm's Along The Corridors. If you are in to BASS, you totally need these tracks.

The Dismemberment Plan - Memory MachineThe Dismemberment Plan - What Do You Want Me to Say: I have been going back and listening to classic albums! Guess what kiddos? Emergency & I is now CLASSIC ROCK! Yes, that's right, we're all terribley old.

The Dresden Dolls - Girl Anachronism: Same as above, binging in to the back classic albums. I had to share. If you don't know their self-titled album, seek it out!

Friday, May 13, 2011

blog 2011/05/12 - the crashing of guitars and buckets as we decide who will be the first to be eaten.

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Anita Tijoux - 1977: No idea what's going on here, but this is flavour!

Arms - Heat & Hot Water (Passion Pit Remix): Totally over-the-top pop that takes the excesses of the 80s, dips it in some glistening Passion Pit synth, and just dares you to lick it.

Badbadnotgood - The Medley (Bastard, Lemonade, AssMilk): Instrumental jazz renditions of tracks of the new Bastard LP. TOO SOON? At least El Michels Affair had given enough time for nostalgia to set in!

Hey Rosetta! - New Sum (Nous Sommes)Hey Rosetta! - Parson Brown (Upirngaangutuq Iqalunni)Hey Rosetta! - Welcome: The new LP Seeds is quite awesome. It fills a place between that overwhelming Arcade Fire intensity and that seductively overwhelming Canadiana jam-folk of Ohbijou. And they pull it off fabulously. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Go see them on tour if you get a chance. This album will be with you all summer long.

Jesse Dangerously - Cold ComfortJesse Dangerously - How Shall I Send Thee (Apt Pupil Remix): Humble & Brilliant is the new CD and it's now in physical and MP3 form. BUT it also comes with a zine, which is kind of perfect and awesome for an album like this.

The Kills - DNA: Oooo lovely bluesy rock track from the new album Blood Pressures. For those that want more Joan Jett in their life!

Tied & Tickled Trio and Billy Hart - Ghost Allaround: Back to the jazz! T&TT hook up with Mr. Hart and the resulting album "La Place Demon" should appeal to many contemporary jazz fans. I just couldn't get in to a lot of it... but then THIS track hit me, right at the very end and it just swept me away. Fabulous.

TV On The Radio - Caffeinated ConsciousnessTV On The Radio - Will Do: I am on the record for being supremely bored and uninterested in TV On The Radio for the most part, but these two tracks off the new album Nine Types Of Light are prety darn irresistible. Let's hope the rest of the album keeps up the goodness.

White Hinterland - Lucky Cloud: Taken off of the Fresh From The Garden Tour CD, I love this dreamy "little suzie's trapped down the well" kind of earthen folk music.

Wildlife - Killing For Fun: And the dark folk takes a turn for the morose. HAPPY WEEKEND YOU MELANCHOLY PSYCHOPATHS!

Monday, May 9, 2011

Hurray, we did it!
YOU did it!
Everyone survived the facebook upgrade issue. I hope you still receive notifications when I post...

Well now you get rewarded with an extra mp3 blog post.
GOOD WORK, YOU!

Autechre - Basscadet (Bcdtmx): I have never been one for their albums, but the EP is where Autechre always truly shined. And their new set EPs 1991-2002 is out and it's full of aural pleasures.

Beastie Boys - Too Many Rappers (New Reactionaries Version ft NAS): Much of "Hot Sauce Committee Part 2" leaves me flat, but a few tracks like this one tap in to equal amounts of nostalgia and contemporary glee and work wonders.

Braids - Lemonade (Green Go Remix): We last heard from Green Go on their fantastic remix for Women, and they pull off the same kind of magic here. Indie dance bliss!

Eleanor Murray - The Whale: Pensive, delicate, powerful, and charged with trembling emotion. From 2010's Oh Thunder, this is folk the way I love it.

Jacques Greene - (Baby I Don't Know) What You Want: Sometimes you just want your house a tad groovey, a tad slinky, and not too much of anything, and that's where this kind of 303 funk fits perfectly.

John Legend & The Roots - Wake Up (Arcade Fire cover): HA! How could I not?

Julianna Barwick - The Magic Place: Running one's voice through echo and delays units is one of technologies simple pleasures, but like pointing a camera at it's own monitor, there are always so many delights to be extraced.

Kanye West - That's My Bitch ft Jay-Z & La Roux: Why do we hold rappers to different standards of being acceptable competent human beings that deserve to live than anyone else? Why do we let them spout stupid sexist and homophobic shit and applaud them for flow? Gah.

Korallreven - Honey Mine (Memoryhouse Remix): Dream pop fused with the original dreaminess of the woman from The Concretes!

NEXT BIG ANNOUNCEMENT:
facebook are super jerkfaces and are fucking over the group system. That means this group will eventually be "upgraded", and in doing so, YOU ALL LOSE MEMBERSHIP.
That is right, you will have to REJOIN THIS GROUP, when that happens. No way around it. Facebook just sucks.
I will try and send a final message out to remind you before the axe falls...
In the meantime, you can subscribe to email updates of this blog at http://djcpi.blogspot.com if you want.

Anyways, on to the goods:

9b0 - Antilightbulb (Error Version): Crunchy yummy IDM! And anything with 'bulb' in the title is inevitably a nod to Aphex Twin, right?

Eddy B & Tim Gunter - Bring In The Day ft The Doors: I have no idea why the bulk of modern pop hiphop has to anchor itself to past hits, but *shrug*, don't expect me to expend much effort dissecting it. From last year's "Dear North Carolina, Welcome Back"

Ellie Goulding - The Writer (Alan Braxe Remix): The original was one of my unsung favourites off the album, the kind of slightly sappy that you'd cuddle up to with your Tori Amos doll. I'm happy to hear this remix, with Mr. Alan Braxe, the king of ecstatic pop remixes, at the boards.

Fleet Foxes - Helplessness BluesFleet Foxes - Lorelai: "Helplessness Blues"? Seriously? Holy shit what a buzz kill. These dudes are sad something fierce.
This album isn't nearly as good as their first one. Much more mellow, a bit murkier. And it sounds like they spent a year locked in a room listening to Simon & Garfunkel records, crying over their break-up. BUT, it is still a top quality album. It might not grab everyone, but if you like full-bodied sullen folk, definitely pick it up.

Ghostface Killah - Together Baby: Hotness from last year's The Apollo Kids!

Higuma - Burning Colors: Pacific Fog Dreams is a lovely album of atmospheric guitar feedback and bigs chords. Like if SUNN O))) changed their medication.

Kelis - Brave (Dark Sky Remix): Kelis gets another superdope remix, this time in the key of latenight dubsteppiness.

Lykke Li - Unrequited LoveLykke Li - Youth Knows No Pain: I posted some tracks and remixes before, but I am here with the verdict that the new album Wounded Rhymes is indeed HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. What a difference it all is, with a guitar rock feel on some songs, a twangy croon reminiscent of Basia Bulat, and only a few nods to the album of yore. Drop your expectations and dive in, or you'll get left behind by her.

Niki & The Dove - Mother Protect: This is like if The Knife teamed up with Young Galaxy and got all mellow together.

Pechenga - Gitaro: Gorgeous instrumental guitar and effects from the new album "Helt Borte".

Ryan Bingham - The Weary Kind (Lanny May Remix): Emotive electro country twang! A first! And I love it.
The Charlatans - The Only One I Knows: Oh this one is delightfully dreary. A mopey sing-a-long chorus of "everyone's been burned before, everyone knows the pain"? Just the perfect amount of concilliatory group moping.

The Weeknd - The Party & The After Party: I am extremely sceptical by this new wave of digital RNB redux. So fucking hyped. And while I've been deleting a deluge of tracks that pretty much take watered-down D'angelo and toss on some XX/JBlake synths, this is one of the few that was spared the axe. The album House of Balloons itself was way too much to take, but this track is the perfect distillation of my favourite parts.

Wye Oak - Fish: After last year's amazing EP, I had such such SUCH high hopes for this new album! But I'm taking this song, and passing on the rest of Civilian. I just couldn't get in to it. It just felt so... muted? I dunno.